Push-in wire connectors are a well-known type of wire connector having an electrically-insulating housing in which a conductive wire retainer is disposed. The housing has two or more openings therein through which the stripped ends of electrical wires can be inserted. The bare ends of the inserted wires engage the wire retainer in the interior of the housing. The wire retainer is often in the form of a spring clip. The spring clip includes spring fingers which are arranged to receive wires pushed into the housing and then grab or hold the wires to prevent them from being pulled out of the housing. The inserted wires are electrically connected to one another by the clip. A variation of this construction is a releasable push-in connector which has a spring finger which can be manipulated by a user to release the inserted wires and allow them to be retracted from the housing. Examples of push-in wire connectors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,824,395 and 6,746,286, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Push-in connectors are an alternative to twist-on wire connectors. In high volume applications push-in connectors may be used as an alternative to twist-on wire connectors in an attempt to avoid possible issues relating to repetitive stress injuries or trauma such as carpal tunnel syndrome. However, in certain situations this effort can be largely futile as the user is simply trading one repetitive motion for another. That is, the pincer-like finger grip of a wire required by the manual use of a push-in connector can be, for those so disposed, as much of a problem as the wrist twisting motion required by manual installation of a twist-on connector.
Another problem with push-in connectors occurs when they are used with stranded wires. Stranded wires have a tendency to buckle as they are inserted into a push-in connector by hand, especially if the user's grip is remote from the end of the wire. Or sometimes if the wire isn't carefully aligned with the housing opening some of the strands may get separated from the bulk of the strands and these individual strands get hung up on the exterior of the housing. For obvious safety reasons this is undesirable.